Thursday, March 21, 2013

Snowfire Rose

Usually the first thing I plant when the weather starts warming up is a new rose. We have just moved into a new place, so I could not wait to get my hands on a rose to plant. I shopped around a few stores for a week or so then finally found one that I have not grown before and loved it. It looked great with new foliage sprouting out in a few places. I decided on putting it into a pot since the weather is predicted to fall back down in the 30's this week.

I found a nice medium size ombre red pot, grabbed some soil and the plant I wanted. I headed to the check out line which is the worst part of any shopping experience. The total for my purchase was not bad considering I have ordered specific plants in the past for ten times as much. The top soil I came home with was $4.48, the rose was $4.98, and the pot was $12.98. I do not normally use pots for my roses, but knew I would be bringing this one in for a few more weeks to see it off to the best start it could get.

I threw in a shallow layer of river rocks into the bottom, added a little soil, then went to grab the rose. It was packaged with a long root system surrounded by small mulch to keep it moist. I slowly and carefully took all the mulch off that surrounded the root system. I placed this aside for later use. I centered the rose in the pot being sure to cover the entire root. I filled the rest of the pot with soil, loosely packing to hold the plant where I wanted it to stay. Finally I topped it off with the mulch that had been found in the rose packaging.

The new foliage has grown two inches while it has been waiting for warmer weather from inside the house. I plan on adding a few moss seeds to the pot cover the soil and hopefully cascade over the edges of the pot. Soon I will have fresh flowers on the dining room table during dinner! I will post a few more pictures this weekend to show the new growth.